Dr Bob Bury, a consultant radiologist in Leeds, wrote an interesting letter to The Times last week on the subject of nursing. It was in response to the news that nursing will become degree entry by 2013.  

He writes: “Doctors of my age (early sixties), particularly those of us married to nurses of a similar excellent vintage, have watched with dismay as the increase in academic content of nurse training translated into a corresponding decline in the quality of nursing care at the bedside. An insistence on degree training for nurses will simply accelerate this process.”

Bob is eloquently expressing a view I’ve heard many times in recent years, namely the frustration with a perceived deterioration in the standards of basic nursing care.

But let’s not underestimate the benefits that degree entry confers. I was writing about social care when social work took the same step. It catapulted social work up the list of preferred professions for graduates, and has helped counter-balance the bad press the profession has received in the wake of the Baby P case.

There is a now a younger generation of bright, ambitious social workers coming through the ranks that offers some crumbs of comfort for a hard-pressed profession. Inevitably, nursing will reap the same benefits and compete more favourably on recruitment with other professions.

Bob acknowledges this in his letter: “While it is true that some nurses are rightly going on to gain higher level skills and take on some of the tasks previously the province of doctors, there is scope to do this within the current post-qualification training system. Erecting artificial and unnecessary barriers for those entering the profession will exacerbate the lack of skilled nursing care and produce a generation of nurses more familiar with a clipboard than a bedpan.”

This is where the parallels with social work break down. There is a significant difference between the professions - there’s much more ‘dirty’ work involved in nursing.

But, rather than argue against the introduction of graduate entry, we should really be striving to strengthen the roles of auxiliary nurses and healthcare assistants. As many roles within the NHS continue to evolve, they’re now the ones who hold the key to delivering excellent basic care on the front line.